Pandora's Box
by PanderTheCat
Summary: A story based on Fearless Vampire Killers in college
1. Chapter 1

The rain was pounding off my window. The pitter pater of the rain was starting to really get on my nerves, why won't it just shut up? I tried to cover my head with my pillow to drown out the annoying sound but sadly, to no avail it was still quite clear. I just wanted to sleep I thought to myself. It had finally gotten too much for me and I sat up quickly, tossing my pillow –with considerable force- directly at my window "Will you just shut up!" I yelled to accompany the flying object. My hair flopped over my face as I flung myself back into my bed. As hard as I tried I couldn't get back to sleep. I groaned as I forced myself back up and slid my legs to hang over the side of my bed, I looked down at the floor which lay beneath me, it wasn't too far of a drop from atop my loft bed. I gently slid myself off landing with a light thud on the ground. What time was it? I looked around for where I had left my phone the night before, I could see it peeking out from beneath one of my shoes, how on earth did it get there? To be honest I didn't question it much after that, I flopped to the floor and sat crossed legged as I looked at it, 6:45am, it was way too early to be up. I lay back on the floor to stare at my ceiling, I liked my ceiling, there was nothing on it to catch anyone's attention, I liked the texture, if you stared long enough it would start making shapes, hours of endless fun there. What to do? I knew I had collage later, but the rain was making that idea extremely unlikeable. I thought about getting dressed, but quickly decided against it, my pyjamas are comfier and besides, there's plenty of time to get dressed later. I was still at a loss of what to do when I heard my stomach grumble. Hmm, food. "I couldn't agree more with you on that thought" I said to my stomach as I patted it. I eased myself up from my current position on the floor and dragged myself downstairs. I was still super tired.

I clattered around in the kitchen looking for a knife for my butter as I turned on my music to dance around waiting on the toast to pop. I was lucky I didn't have to worry about the noise I was making, my parents weren't even here. They work away a lot so I'm here on my own. It's perfectly fine though, I'm seventeen and super responsible, the most irresponsible thing I've done is have my friends over for an entire weekend watching movies… College wasn't very productive when Monday rolled around to say the least. I had decided that the toast wasn't going to scare me this time; I was prepared for the pop. I stood there waiting, and watching, the time ticked by slowly, I looked away for a split second and 'POP'. I jumped slightly and dropped the knife I was holding "You win this round toaster" I said to it menacingly as I picked my knife up and threw it into the sink, time to rummage for another one. I took this time to have a dance party of one in my kitchen whilst eating my buttery toast, got to find some way to entertain myself y'know. I was partway through my dance session when my phone beeped at me, "Tryna be like the toaster are you?" I questioned my phone (when you spend so much time alone you do end up talking to inanimate objects) as I looked at who the text was from, it was Kier, one of my closest friends, he seems cocky when you meet him but once you get past that he's lovely and a great laugh,

"Oi! Pandora picking u up at 7:45… don't be late… again"

"Me? Late? Never!" I quickly typed back as I giggled at my sarcasm, he was right, I'm always late for everything, I don't even know how half the time, I just end up late no matter how early I set out. I had thirty minutes to get ready. I quickly ran upstairs and threw on my ripped jeans, a t-shirt, my hoodie and boots. I always wear boots, I can't wear any other shoes if I'm honest, it just feels awkward, like I'm going to fall over all the time, and I don't really need help with that. I looked out of my window at the rain falling from the sky and sighed as I pulled my hair into a pony tail, it was no use leaving it down, it would just get frizzy and curly and out of control.

I opened my window and climbed out onto the ledge that was still covered by the roof. This was my favourite place to come to sit and think. My thoughts weren't focused on anything in particular but then my movie night that I had planned sprung to mind. I still had to go shopping for that, it was only four days away. I had told the guys it wouldn't turn into another weekender thing, but secretly I hoped it would, as fun as it was at first being on my own with my parents gone, I have started to get lonely at the lack of human interaction I was having... Maybe I should adopt a cat? I had gotten so wrapped up in my thoughts I didn't see Kier pull up in his car, my inner ramblings were cut short when I heard his voice shouting up at me,

"What the hell are you doing up there" I heard him laugh through his words,

"Just thinking. Something you never do!" I called back laughing as well,

"Very funny Pandora, get your arse down here before we're late" I stuck my tongue out at him but wasn't sure if he had seen it or not. I scrambled my way back into my room, shut the window, grabbed my bag and ran downstairs locking the door quickly trying not to get too wet in the process before clambering into the seat next to Kier.

He was sat grinning at me,

"What? Do I have something on my face?" I reached up and touched my face just to make sure,

"Nope. What were you thinking about?" he was still grinning like a Cheshire cat

"Nothing really, just stuff. Nothing important" I replied, slightly confused at his interest in my thoughts, we were close and he knew if it was important I would have told him already,

"It was me wasn't it?" he had kept eye contact with me from the moment I got into the car, I thought I saw a small blush forming on his cheeks,

"Huh?" he was confusing me, what was he talking about?

"You were thinking about me weren't you" he winked at me. What? Why would he think that?

"What? No you idiot" he looked slightly hurt, this was so out of character for him "I was thinking about how I need to go shopping for the movie night on Saturday" I continued quickly, trying to avoid the hurt look on his face,

"Well, that has something to do with me, so, I was right" he smiled at me again as he started the car up and drove off,

"You really are weird Kemp" I chuckled lightly. The rest of the drive was relatively quiet despite Kiers usual chattiness. I put it down to it being too early in the morning; well that's what I hoped it was.

We pulled into the car park behind our collage, the rain was still bucketing it down, Kier and I both let out a sigh at the same time

"I really can't be bothered with this Pander" he was looking out the window aimlessly. What was going through his mind? Wait had he just called me Pander? I shrugged it off,

"Either can I Kemp, but you gotta do what you gotta do. The sooner we go in, the sooner it's over" I reached out and touched his arm, "C'mon, let's go" he turned round and looked at me, he seemed annoyed,

"You didn't even notice I called you Pander instead of Pandora" he spat at me, before I had a chance to respond he'd opened his door and stormed off into the building. What the hell is getting his knickers in a twist today?

Thankfully the door to the building hadn't been too far away so I wasn't completely soaked when I got in. I headed straight to my tutor room which thankfully would have more than just Kier in as he seemed to have a major problem with me today. I trudged up the stairs around the corner where I found the ever happy Drew. Thank god someone's in a good mood today.

"Hey Drew" I shouted as I waved to him. Drew was the shortest of the guys, but still taller than me, he had short but at the same time longish sandy brown hair with a fringe that was usually flopped over his face,

"Hey Pandora!" he basically ran at me, always the excited one, I laughed as I accepted his hug; you'd have thought we hadn't seen each other for years never mind it just being yesterday. When I managed to escape Drew's grip I turned to face him as we walked down the hall to the tutor room,

"Drew? Do you know what's up with Kier? He's acting odd" he looked confused at my question,

"Nope. He was fine when I spoke to him on the phone, and was perfectly cheery when I passed him earlier. Why?" Was it just me he was acting off with then?

"Nothing really, just he stormed off when I didn't mention the fact he called me Pander, I didn't think it was a big deal" Drew looked even more puzzled but just shrugged it off as we got to our room he ran off to the corner where Shane, Luke and a perfectly fine looking Kier sat.

Shane and Luke are my other two friends; they are quieter than me, Drew and Kier when in large crowds, but just as crazy when surrounded by our friends. Luke is the tallest of us all with long black hair shaven at the side; I noticed he had his signature beanie on, at an odd angle yet again. I don't actually remember a time seeing him without it now. Oh yeah, he also has a beard, it's quite magnificent for his age. Shane, well, he looks like Drew only taller with longer hair and glasses. If it wasn't for his constant wearing of his goggles you could easily get the two mixed up. "Hey guys!" I called across the room, I noticed Kier look down quickly when he realised I'd finally caught up, his red fringe covering most of his face but the light was still hitting off where his piercing was. I went and sat on the table, swinging my legs back and forth we were in relative silence apart from the occasional classmate screeching from the other side of the room. I was staring into space when Drew piped up,

"Kier, why were you off with Pandora this morning? She said you were acting weird" he asked innocently enough, not meaning anything by it, but Kier didn't take it that way,

"What? I wasn't off with her. Maybe she's just exaggerating things. I was content until I was getting accused by you two" My mouth opened in shock, what was he saying? That I made it up? I wasn't angry at him before, but I sure as hell was now,

"Kier? What the hell? I didn't exaggerate anything. You were the one who stormed off cause you thought I didn't realise you gave me a nickname. I had noticed, I didn't realise how important it was to you. Don't take your foul mood out on Drew" he looked back down to the ground and mumbled something, "What was that?" I was getting annoyed at him now; his mumbling wasn't helping the situation,

"I said I was sorry. Okay? I'm sorry Drew, it wasn't your fault you asked a stupid question." He glared at me "Is that better?" I just sighed and looked away, if he was going to be like this I didn't want to know him until he fixed his attitude. God I hope it was soon.

A few more minutes passed before our lecturer came into the room

"Pandora get off the table and sit on your seat" he said without even looking up, how did he know? I've been going here too long, I laughed at my inner monologue as I took my seat. I was lucky enough to have the whole table to myself so I took it as a personal challenge to see how far I can lie across the desk without getting caught, so far, not that much. I slowly began to slide my upper body across to the other side of the table, my fingertips touching the edge, I was making it further than I had before, I felt my shirt slide up slightly but I was sure it would be fine. I started pulling my upper body onto the table, yes, I was going to lie here and have a nice well deserved nap, our lecturer was facing the board so him catching me wouldn't be a problem,

"Psst, Pander" I decided to ignore Kier, he was being awkward and moody, "Pander, your shirts riding up" I sighed,

"I know Kier, shush" I continued on my conquest moving further and further onto the table when I felt a warm hand on my side, I twisted my head to see Kier tugging at my shirt, "What are you doing?" I asked, slightly louder than intended, the lecturer, along with the rest of the class turned around to see me sprawled across the table with Kiers hand still on my side.

"What on earth do you two think you are doing? This is a classroom! I don't care what you two do together on your own time, but we are having none of that hanky panky going on in my class. Both of you out. Now!" I stood up and faced Kier and mouthed 'thanks' and rolled my eyes as I walked out the class. What the hell was he thinking? He shortly followed me.

"Sorry Pander" he whispered as he stood next to me,

"What the hell did you do that for anyway?" I was staring at him, arms crossed,

"Your shirt was riding up, I didn't think you'd want to be exposed" he kept looking at the ground, covering his face with his hair,

"I told you to leave it; we sit at the back anyway no one would have seen." he turned his head to look at me,

"I would have saw you, it doesn't matter if you're at the back, I still would have saw" What? He has to turn to see what I'm doing,

"No you wouldn't have, you physically have to turn to see me, you should've be paying attention to the lecture, not to my shirt or me" I was cut off by the lecturer,

"I couldn't agree more Pandora, Kier why were you looking at her? Better yet why did you touch her?" I couldn't tell whether the lecturer wanted to laugh at the situation or kick us out for good,

"I wanted to apologize for something I said earlier, and I didn't want her exposing herself. I was just trying to help her" a slight blush came across his face. Why was he blushing?

"Couldn't it have waited? Anyway Pandora, why were you lying across the table?" he had stopped looking at Kier and was facing me now,

"I, well I was tired? I'm not sure really" I didn't want to say I took it as a challenge in case he moved me,

"What will I do with you two?" he chuckled slightly, "Get back in, and no more hanky panky you two" he laughed at his own –what seemed to be- joke. I looked at Kier again, he was even redder, it wasn't that warm was it? As we headed back in there was the usual whisper 'Are they dating?' 'What exactly happened up there' 'Look! He's blushing' I just sighed and sat down at my seat. After class was going to be fun.

The double period leading into break went quite quickly after that, we had elected to stay in the class instead of going out, partly because of the rain and party because of our shenanigans earlier.

"So what was that during class then guys?" Luke asked,

"Just the usual, I was trying to conquer the table and Kier took it upon himself to keep my modesty intact" I smiled over to Kier, he wasn't listening and messing around with his phone,

"Well it certainly looked odd, you lying across a table and Kier with his hands on you" Luke laughed at his own comment,

"It certainly did look weird, but, when aren't we weird? Eh Kier?" he looked up from his phone,

"Yeah weird, woo" his head went straight back down to his phone,

"You okay? You seem distant? Is it a girl?" he started to flush pink again, "Oh my gosh, it is a girl! Tell me who" I leaped onto the table he was sitting at and lay across it staring at him, "So?" I waited for his answer,

"No, Pander, I don't like a girl" he still hadn't looked up at his phone,

"A boy then? That's cool too" his head snapped up and he stared at me,

"No. I don't like anyone. God, just drop it please" I could tell he was being serious so I nodded and propped myself against the wall and sighed. What was going on inside my best friends head?

"Pandora, table" I sighed and looked up,

"Sorry, Sir" I slid myself off the table, when will I be able to sit where I want? I slid into the empty seat next to Kier and placed my head on his shoulder, I felt him tense up. That was odd, I shrugged it off and whispered in his ear, "If you need to talk, I'm here, don't ever forget that" I felt him nod, I was getting tired so I shut my eyes, it wasn't until I heard the lecturer talking to someone, and being the nosy person I am I had to see who it was. He was talking to a boy, he looked about our age, he was tall, but not as tall as Luke, but still tall, with pale skin and raven black hair, he was quite cute, I was still resting my head on Kier when the lecturer pointed at me and said quite loudly,

"I'm sorry but your seat is next to her" he then looked at me, "Try not to traumatise him too much Pandora" I just laughed,

"I'll try my hardest Sir" I mock saluted him, he just rolled his eyes at me, the boy came walking over to me,

"Where is it I sit?" he whispered as he was looking at the floor, I bent my head to look up under his fringe which was covering his face,

"'Ello, nice to meet ya! Let me show you to our humble abode" His eyes widened in shock at me but he just nodded, I grabbed his arm and lead him to the back of the class where we would be sharing a table, "Well, it's not much, but it's home" I thought I heard a chuckle come from him, "Well, as you know I'm Pandora, so what's your name then?" I looked at him expectantly,

"Oh, right, I'm Laurence. Laurence Beveridge" he reached out a hand for me to shake,

"Well, welcome to the family Laurence" I shook his hand back and pointed around to the guys they waved and carried on with their conversation, Kier was back looking at his phone, "That grumpy gits Kier, he's been in a slight mood, if he says anything don't worry" Laurence just nodded, I noticed he doesn't talk much, I didn't know if it was cause I was talking too much or if he was just shy. I didn't have time to ask, the bell for third period starting rang, the rest of the class walked in and stared right in our direction, hushed whispers of 'who's he?' echoed throughout the class. I quickly slumped down into my seat, Laurence stood there looking aimless, "You can sit you know, unless you plan on standing for the next hour or so." Laurence shook his head and ran his hand through his fringe,

"Right, right" he quickly sat next to me and took out a pen and book. The lesson was relatively boring; I glanced over at Kier who was still on his phone, what on earth could be so interesting on it? I pulled out my phone and quietly tapped away sending a message to him,

"What's so interesting?"

"Nothing. Shouldn't u be paying attention?"

"Could say the same for you… Ya gonna tell me?"

"There's nothing to tell Pander"

"Hmmm, I'm watching you Kemp"

"I can see that… quit staring… it's weird" I could see him smirking from the side of his face. Ughh, I know it was just my nosy nature coming out but I really wanted to know what he was up to. I looked at the clock on the wall, there was still half an hour left of the lesson, I put my head on the desk and went to sleep.

I felt a slight nudging at my arms cradling my head, I groaned lightly, "Go away, I want to sleep" I mumbled at whoever it was pestering me,

"I'm sorry. It's just, everyone has left and you weren't awake… I'm sorry." I twisted my head slightly to peak out from my arms to see who the mysterious voice was coming from; I was met with large green/brown eyes staring at me from behind black glass frames and a dark fringe,

"What time is it?" I questioned, Laurence glanced at the wall and then back to me,

"Quarter past twelve" he smiled gently at me. His smile was perfect, I couldn't help but stare at him, I must have been staring for too long, "So, are going to get up?" I had completely forgotten I was still resting on the desk. I sat up quickly and stretched my arms, ahh that felt good; Laurence was still sitting looking at me,

"Sorry about that, so did you sit here and wait for me? You shouldn't have" I twisted around so I was directly facing him, he looked over to the door,

"It's no problem, I don't really know my way around, and... and, well, I wanted to ask, if you'd show me?" he was still facing the door, was he really this shy? Of course I would help, well as long as he wasn't an axe wielding maniac that is,

"Sure. Under one condition though" he looked back at me, panic setting in on his face, "Are you an axe welding maniac?" I put on my most serious face,

"What? N-no" I laughed out loudly,

"Okay, let's go find my deserter friends then shall we?" I heard him breathe a sigh of relief. We both stood up at the same time, "Well, I think I know where they'll be anyway, getting food. That's what they always do" he just nodded and followed me out of the class room, along the corridor and down towards the canteen. We walked in silence, I didn't like it, I wanted him to talk, he seemed so interesting, "So, Laurence, what brings you down here?" he thought about it for a minute before answering,

"My parents jobs required them to move, so that meant me as well" he seemed to think about what he was going to say next before he blurted it out, "What brings you to London then? You don't really sound like you're from here" I was taken aback by his question, I wasn't from London, I was in fact from Scotland, but like him moved down because of my parents, which if you think about it is funny cause they're never here anyway. It had been so long since anyone asked where I was from it took me a minuet to answer,

"Same reason as you, parents. They're never here mind you, but I like it so it's okay"

"They travel a lot then? Mine do as well, most of the year I spend on my own. To be honest I'm not sure when they even bothered with the move" I nodded and listened to him talk; we had a bit in common with our parents. I was glad I met him, as much as I love Kier and the others, they don't really understand what it's like being alone most of the year. We turned the corner and walked through to double doors into the canteen.

Shane and Drew noticed us as soon as we walked through giving us waves as we walked over,

"I see you've returned to us Pander" Kier let out a small laugh and spun round to face us, "I'm sorry for being such a dick to you. Friends?" he looked up at me and smiled,

"I could never not be your friend Kier" he immediately grabbed me by the waist and hugged me, his head resting on my stomach, we were like that for a good few minutes, I patted his head, "Okay, you can let go now Kier" he slowly let his grip on me go and mumbled something about being sorry. I looked back at Laurence, he was just standing there, not talking, he looked so awkward, I let out a small chuckle, "You can sit down Laurence, don't be so shy around us. We're your friends now" I put out my hand in a way to gesture him sitting down,

"Thank you" he said softly. We were sat just having mindless chatter when I thought about bringing up the movie night, I needed supplies and didn't want to go on my own.

"Right guys. Movie night. I need help with the supplies. Who's in?" Luke, Drew and Shane went pale and shook their heads,

"On behalf of us all, I think we'll pass there Pandora" Luke gave me a sheepish grin as he said it, I just rolled my eyes at them,

"Guess it's us three then"

"Three?" Kier sounded confused, "There's only two of us Pander" I shook my head at him,

"Er, Laurence is there" I pointed to him, "Have you forgotten about him already?" I pushed Kiers arm,

"No I hadn't forgot, it's just, well…" he trailed off,

"It's what Kier?" I said getting closer to him, I saw him gulp, I guess I could be pretty intimidating if I wanted,

"Erm, you haven't asked him, well, at least from what I know" he was right, I had completely forgot,

"Oh yeah" I moved away from Kier and slid my way across the table to where Laurence had finally plonked himself, "So what do you say? You up for a movie night on Saturday? And supply shopping of course!" it looked as though he didn't know what to say,

"Come to the movie night, avoid the shopping" I heard Drew whisper to Laurence,

"What's that supposed to mean Drew?" I looked at him, my head turned slightly at an angle,

"Nothing, just, supply shopping with you is, to put it nicely. Intense" I don't know what he was on about, I just liked to make it fun, everyone got a list and 10 minutes to find everything on it. If you were late you'd have to do jumping jacks and run the length of the grocery store.

"Well" I scoffed at him "You up for it Laurence?" I smiled brightly at him, he seemed to think about it for a minute,

"Yeah, sure it sounds like fun. I'll even help with the supplies" he looked happier after saying that. Hopefully he got more confident with us after the weekend.

"Great! It'll be like a party before the party" I started doing a little dance on the table, much to the amusement of the others. Kier muttered something under his breath again, this was getting to be a habit of his, one that I didn't like.

Collage had finally finished and we were free to leave, everyone went their separate ways apart from Kier and I, he was going to give me a lift home and I was going to try and get to the bottom of what was going on inside his head. Thankfully the rain had subsided and we didn't have to sit soaked on the car journey home.


	2. Chapter 2

. Thankfully the rain had subsided and we didn't have to sit soaked on the car journey home. Yet again we were sitting in silence on the drive back to mine, I wasn't sure how to approach the subject of what the heck was wrong with him, he'd seemed so annoyed earlier, I didn't want to lose my best friend. I thought about how I was going to start the conversation, do I just come right out and ask? No that's not a good approach, we have to be tactical here, hmmm, what to say? I've got it!

"So, what do you think about Laurence then?" I swear I saw him roll his eyes,

"He's okay I suppose, not really spoke to him" he was talking in monotone, I sighed inwardly, he really is one awkward bugger when he wants to be now isn't he?

"Well maybe if you weren't in such a huff today you might've spoken more" I chuckled lightly to indicate I was just joking with him but yet again he mumbled something at me. "Kier! Will you quit doing that? Seriously, you're starting to get on my nerves" he let out a sigh,

"I'm not doing anything, it's your imagination" I just sighed, maybe this wasn't the best approach, did he not like Laurence?

"You keep mumbling Kier, you know that's rude don't you?" Kier turned to face me as we sat in what seemed like centuries of traffic,

"Oh, I didn't know I was. Sorry, I guess" really Kier? Really, you guess you're sorry nope, not having this,

"What do you mean you guess? You can't guess you're sorry" he rolled his eyes at me "And another thing, quit rolling your eyes at me"

"Quit treating me like I'm five and I'll stop it" What?

"When did I treat you like you were five? Where's this coming from? You're the one being secretive, pushing me away, you've barely spoke to me all day"

"Well who's faults that then?" he said as traffic started to pick up,

"It's your fault, I've tried talking to you, you've been in a mood since I didn't mention you calling me Pander, I didn't think it was that big of a deal. I thought we had sorted this" he flicked the indicator of the car and pulled into the pavement, he turned to face me again, his face a mixture of sadness and anger,

"Well, it meant something to me. And if you can't realize this, I don't know why we're friends" I was taken aback, did he really mean that? I was too shocked to speak, my mouth was slightly opened. So many thoughts were racing through my head, I didn't want to lose my best friend, he was my everything, the one I spoke to during the late nights on my own, he was always there. Sure I loved the others but Kier, he was different, he never sounded annoyed at getting three am calls or staying up with me till I fell asleep. I didn't know what to say, he's never been like this, sure we've had arguments, what friends haven't? But it's always been over something so trivial and silly, something I knew I could fix since I knew what was wrong like that time I beat him in Mario Cart and he claimed I cheated, when really he just sucks at the game, but I digress, this was different, I don't think a slice of pizza and a hug will fix this.

"Kier… I, I don't know what to say, do you really mean that?" he looked down at the gear stick,

"I don't know what I mean anymore" I could hear the sadness in his voice, this was tearing me apart,

"Please, look at me Kier, just tell me what's wrong. I don't want to lose you"

"I can't Pander" I placed my hand under his chin and tilted his face up,

"Yes you can, we tell each other everything, what are we if we keep secrets?"

"Humans?" he chuckled, typical Kier, trying to play it off by making a joke now,

"No Kier, no jokes, not now, you have to tell me what's going on in your head" tears were threatening to spill from his eyes as we sat in silence,

"Okay" he whispered "I'll try. I don't know how to say what's going on in my head, I'm not even sure if I understand it all that well. I've, well, how do I put this?" he paused, it felt like time had stopped, I heard the rain slowly start getting heavier and heavier again, the sound of the drops splashing on the metal frame of the car echoing through my head, Kiers voice brought me back to the world, "I guess since I don't have the words, I'll have to show you" he shuffled closer to me, well, as close as you can get in a car, he reached up and gently caressed my cheek, before I knew it his hand was cupping my face, our noses barely touching, he tilted his head slightly to the left, leaning closer and closer, our lips nearly touching when there was a bang on the car window. We sprang apart, my heart was beating faster and faster, was that really about to happen? Were Kier and I really about to kiss? Kier rolled down the window which revealed a soaked Drew and Shane.

"Why are you two out here?" I questioned them,

"We could ask you the same, shouldn't you be home by now?" Shane questioned back,

"Yeah, well…" Kier scratched the back of his neck, a blush forming on his cheeks,

"Well, as fun as the rain is, can you let us in please? We're freezing" Drew nodded at what Shane had said. Kier unlocked the door for them. Safe to say, I've never seen them get in a car so quickly in my life. I twisted my body around to face the back seats,

"Right, what are you two doing out in the rain anyway? Wasn't that a bit stupid?"

"Well, we were coming to yours and it was dry when we set out. We had assumed you'd be in by now, it is half five" Shane explained to me. What? Half five? It can't be that time already, we can't have been sat here for two hours.

"Oh, well, off to mine I guess" Kier switched the car engine back on and we drove silently to my house with the slight chatter from Drew and Shane in the back.

The three of them had finally left mine, turns out they only wanted my food, which to be fair is fine, I do have a lot of it and wouldn't eat it all without their help. I was lying on the living room floor in my pyjamas just thinking about what nearly happened earlier, I hadn't had much chance to think it through. I couldn't bring my head around it, was he really trying to kiss me? That can't be it, he's just trying to throw me off, I mean really, why would he feel that way, we're practically siblings. There's got to be something else going on. What if he did like me though? How would this affect our friendship? I didn't like him that way, I loved him, but I didn't _love _him you know? The more I thought, the more aggravated I was getting, nope, not happening, nothing happened, it was a lie, I just made that all up. That was my story and I'm sticking with it, end of story. I head my laptop ding from the corner of the room, I turned to face it, notifications on Facebook, interesting, I squirmed my way over -too lazy to get up and walk- what could be so interesting at 2am that someone needs to tell me about? Odd, it was a friend's request, dang, I thought I had hidden myself well. I automatically went to ignore it but the name caught my eye, Laurence Beveridge, hmm, I'll accept him, he's cool, plus he needs to know about the supply gathering tomorrow, well later today, I had completely forgotten about that, poor boy must have been worried about where to get us, I shot him a message,

'Hey! How'd you find me? Are you a spy?'

'What? No, erm, through Drew, he added me'

'I see… got my eyes on you haha. Anyway, what you doing up at this ungodly hour?'

'Could ask you the same… Can't sleep, no other reason. You?'

'Yeah same, just thinking…. Anyway, supplies. Meet at Tesco tomorrow, 12pm sharp. Don't be late'

'I won't! Can't wait, you all seemed really nice btw, thanks for inviting me to hang out'

'No problem, you're awesome, I mean, you sat with me while I slept, not many people do that'

'Haha yeah, sorry if you were freaked, wasn't my intention'

'I wasn't it was sweet ^.^'

'Hehe, no problem then…. Not to be rude, but I'm going to try and get some sleep. See ya tomorrow!'

'Alright, see ya! Sweet dreams' I saw the green icon disappear from beside his name, I suppose he has the right idea of trying to get some sleep. He seems more confident on the internet than in person, I suppose that's like most people though, hopefully he'll come out more tomorrow since it's just me, him and Kier. I dragged myself to me feet and up the stairs into my room and onto my bed, as hard as I tried I couldn't sleep for what seemed like hours, I could have sworn the sun was coming up just as I managed to fall into a restless sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

I awoke with a bang, literally, I must have been tossing and turning in my bed so much I had managed to fling myself off, well that was rude. I sat trying to get my senses back together, I had something to do today, what was it? I'm sure it's not that important oh well. Fridays were always fun, the day off from college meant I could lounge as long as I wanted so I headed downstairs to get some cereal –coco pops, the best cereal ever- and watch TV. I finally managed to get comfy on the sofa, normally it wasn't that hard, must be my body catching up with the pain of the fall, Adventure Time had just came on, I don't care what the age range for it was supposed to be, it was a good show! When my phone went off, screw it, if it's important they'll call back. It went off again, and again and again. Really? I just want to watch my shows in peace! I reached over to the table where my phone lay vibrating, Kier? And an unknown number had been phoning and texting me, I let out a sigh and rung Kiers number,

"What do you want that's so important you're phoning at this time?" I sounded harsher than I meant to,

"Well, considering you told us to be here for this time I kinda expected you" What? Be where?

"You're off your head Kemp, why would I want to be up this early? And be where? It's my day off from the world, you know that" I had sprawled myself across the couch and let out a yawn, man I could go back to sleep here,

"Two words Pander. Supply Shopping" my eyes widened, that's what I had forgotten, dammit!

"Shit, I completely forgot. Good thing I live near Tesco eh? I'll be there in 5! Bye!" I hung up before I let him answer, I scrambled off the couch and onto my feet, picking up the house keys and practically sprinting the five minute walk down to Tesco, I could see Kier and Laurence standing outside the doors doing what looked like laughing, maybe my lateness was good, they were getting on and talking, that can only be good. I finally reached them, out of breath might I add, I really needed to work out… No what am I saying? That's silly talk,

"So-sorry… I'm… Late" I said in-between breaths "What's…So…Funny?" I managed to gasp out before sitting on the concrete ground,

"Apart from your attire, not much Pander" Kier said in-between laughs, reaching a hand out to help me back to my feet. What did he mean? I wasn't wearing anything I wouldn't normally… Hang on… I forgot to get dressed! I was still in my pyjamas. I can't believe I ran to Tesco in my freaking pyjamas, I really am stupid aren't I? I felt my face getting hotter, damn, if it was just them it would be fine, but there was other people here, what was I going to do? Right, I'm going to have to play this off, erm how though? Right, I've got it,

"What do you mean my attire? Oh these? Don't you know? This is the hottest couture going around. Duh, can't believe you didn't know" he cocked his eyebrow at me,

"Somehow I don't think panda pyjama pants are hot couture" I scoffed at him,

"You clearly need to read up on your fashion then" I looked over to Laurence, "You know it's the hottest couture" I was nodding in hopes he would catch on and agree with me,

"Yeah… totally" he said laughing,

"See Kier" I gestured to Laurence, "He gets it. Anyway, let's get to shopping!"

We had wandered around for about half an hour, throwing random things into the trolley, it wasn't as organized as I liked it being, everything was a mess, this was going to be a pain to bag up, I scowled to myself, I only like organized chaos.

"What's up Pander? You look annoyed" Kier said, stopping the trolley in the middle of the aisle,

"I am, this is chaos. I hate it"

"Well, you were the one who forgot the lists. You completely forgot the whole thing" he didn't have to remind me,

"Well, I thought you were coming up with the list" He raised his eyebrow at me,

"We all know that's a lie. You don't let anyone make up the lists. You treat them like your children" he had a point there. I loved lists and making them, it was the reason I was always in charge of these things, I went to ask Laurence if there was anything he wanted to get while we were here but he had disappeared,

"Where's Laurence?" I asked Kier confused as to where he could have gotten to,

"He wandered off about ten minutes ago, you didn't notice?" I shook my head "Too busy hating yourself to notice him eh?" he poked my side, I let out a squeal, he knows I hate that, I'm super ticklish at my sides,

"You know I hate that! Plus you promised not to do it anymore!" I wasn't properly shouting at him, it was more of a half shout half laugh kind of thing

"Well I hate when you hate yourself… You know you're perfect don't you?" he question whilst walking away at considerable speed with the trolley. It was like he didn't mean to say it, did he really think I was perfect? He must be off his head more than I thought, by the time I had come out of my thoughts he had disappeared. Really Kier? Was there a need to run away in the supermarket?

"Kier! KIER!" I screamed rather than just shout as I walked down the aisle looking for him. Why was Tesco so huge? I continued walking around the shop where I inevitably walked straight into someone, my natural instinct was that to shout, thinking it was Kier, "Why the heck did you run off? It's not funny to leave me stranded Kemp!" I finally looked at the person I walked into and realised it wasn't him, I went to run away but was stopped by them grabbing my arm,

"Pandora? Do you normally shout at people you walk into?" it was Laurence, I breathed a sigh of relief, at least it wasn't a stranger,

"Sorry, I thought you were Kier. He ran off somewhere… So did you now I come to think of it"

"Yeah, I just wanted to look around, you seemed lost in your thoughts and Kier didn't really speak to me that much" Wow, Kier wasn't speaking to Laurence? He'd just met the boy, he could at least give him a chance.

"Oh, sorry, well if you're done looking, mind giving me a hand looking for him?"

"Yeah, no problem. You tried phoning him?"

"Er, no" I chuckled embarrassed, how had I not thought of that? Thankfully my pyjama pants had pockets in them, I grabbed my phone and dialled his number, straight to voicemail, damn you Kemp. "It just keeps going to voicemail, now what? He's got to be here, I have the money, but where is the question" we both stood there in thought, where would he go?

"I have an idea!" Laurence exclaimed breaking my train of thought, "You're kinda small, and I'm kinda tall" What did our heights have to do with this?

"Thanks for pointing that out Laurence, but what's that got to do with anything?"

"Get on my shoulders, we'll be able to see over the aisle, we'll find him faster that way"

"Are you sure? I mean, I might break you"

"You're tiny, now up" he said as he kneeled down helping me onto his shoulders, I felt so weird being this high up, I'm thankful for being short, if I had to be this far off the ground every day I would never get up. We started our quest to find Kier and were pretty unsuccessful until we went down the makeup aisle where I saw him looking at eyeliner,

"Step away from the eyeliner Kier" I called to him, the look of confusion on his face was priceless,

"Found me then? Why are you up there? You hate sitting on people"

"True, but desperate circumstances require desperate measures"

"Hardly desperate, I wasn't going anywhere" he laughed "Are you going to come down now?"

"Oh right" I had completely forgotten I was sitting on Laurence, he slowly kneeled to the floor to let me off, I can't explain how nice it was to be back on my feet and so close to the ground,

"Thanks Laurence" I smiled at him,

"No problem, you can sit on me anytime" Kier glared at him

"You wish" he mumbled as he walked by with the trolley, "Are you coming? We have everything I think"

"Yes mother!" I called after Kier before bursting into a fit of giggles, I must be getting tired, that wasn't nearly as funny as my mind made it out to be.


End file.
